The Rose Thorn
by WickedK24601
Summary: Charles is thrilled to begin his time at Hogwarts, however he is not prepared for the challenges that ensue. He must overcome his own lineage, face his housemates, care for those he loves and face the most feared wizard of all time. Rated T for language.


He had attempted to pay attention to the meeting, but his mind and eyes kept wandering towards her. Three months. They had not talked in three months. Since they had met on the train they had never gone so long without speaking. Seven years of friendship and now they couldn't even look one another in the eye.

-8-

Chapter 1: The sorting

He leaned his head against the window, looking out at the station that was still buzzing with parents and students. He was early and the train would not leave for a few more minutes. His tired eyes began to droop. The station started to fade into something else. He was falling asleep, he knew it. The excitement of his new life had kept him up all night and he was paying for it.

Now he was foggily in the inside of a house. He heard screams followed by laughter and then cold. He was freezing cold. He could see a large, hooded figure turning towards him.

A loud knock brought him back. He tried to focus. Looking out the window he saw the train was still at the station. A louder knock came from the compartment door. He got up to unlock it and when it was open he found himself in front of two people. A skinny boy and a young girl. The girl spoke first.

"Is there space in this compartment? Everywhere else is full."

They two looked around his age. The girl had long, dark brown hair that swung around her shoulders as she moved. Her brown eyes watched him expectantly.

"Um, ya, sure," he moved out of the way and allowed her to enter. She was followed by what he assumed to be her friend. He, unlike her, was already in his robes. They were red and black with an embroidered crest of a lion on his left breast. He had bright red hair which was neatly kept. He looked as if he was trying to stand taller than he actually was. He watched as she attempted to lift her trunk into the stowing area, but she was too short. The two boys ran to help, but seeing as neither were much taller than her it took them a while before her trunk was safely put away.

"Thank you," she said, swiping sweat from her forehead. "I should introduce myself. I'm Rose, and this is"

"Percy Weasley," her friend interrupted her.

"Charles," he replied, shaking the outstretched hand that Percy had given him.

Percy turned to Rose and said, "I'm going to talk to some friends. I'll come by in a bit."

"Alright," she replied, as she took a seat.

"It was nice to meet you," he turned politely to Charles.

"You too," he said as Percy exited.

Charles sat down in his seat and stared out the window.

"The train should leave pretty soon," she said as she checked her watch.

"Right."

There was a small silence before the train began to move, just as she had predicted. The excitement that had been living in his stomach jumped and spread into his whole body. The month that had lead of up to this had been the most exiting of his life. For eleven years he had lived in an orphanage. Nothing exiting ever seemed to happen. Mostly just a lot of fights. Until the large man had shown up. Hagrid had entered his room and handed him a letter. A letter that told him he was a wizard. He thought it was a prank, some weird joke that the other kids were playing on him. But then Hagrid asked if he had ever experienced weird things, unexplainable things and the occurrence flooded into his mind. And so they had gone to Diagon Alley. He had bought everything that he needed to start his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And now he was on his way to becoming an actual wizard.

"Is that a cat?" Rose interrupted his thoughts.

He looked up to see her pointing at the basket next to him. As if on que the insides of the cage meowed.

"It is," he laughed lightly.

"Could I pet him?"

"Her," he corrected, "She's a little nervous, she doesn't take to others very well."

Rose kept starring at the cage longingly and with a defeated sigh, Charles moved to open the small door. A small black kitten came out, hissing angrily before seeing Charles and relaxing into his lap. He smiled at the cat, remembering how he had entered into the store to see her hissing at the little boy and his mom that had attempted to pet her. As they moved away, Charles felt compelled to approach the small kitten. To his utter surprise, the young feline didn't attack, but rather she pawed lightly at his hand and pressed the side of her face against his fingers, forcing him to scratch her.

"She's very cute, what's her name?" Rose asked, watching him pet the cat.

"She doesn't have one," he replied. At that moment the cat jumped out of his lap and across to Rose's bench. She sniffed around for a moment, her tail high in the air. Then she relaxed and placed herself into Rose's lap.

"Wow, she likes you."

"Looks like it." she said as she began to pet her lightly. "You don't have a name, huh?" She thought for a minute and then smiled. "Nimbus."

"Excuse me?"

"Her name," she said, "Nimbus, like the broom."

Charles laughed remembering seeing the kids around one of the stores in Diagon Alley, ogling at a beautiful broomstick. "I like that, does she?"

As if to answer Nimbus purred.

"That settles it then," Rose grinned.

They sat in silence for a few moments, both looking at the happy cat. "What house do you think you'll be sorted into?"

"House?"

She looked up at him and eyed him for a moment. "Muggle-born?"

"Something like that." He didn't remember much of his parents. He was only five when they had died and most of his early memories where from the orphanage.

"Right, well there are four. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin," she explained. "Gryffindor is all the brave, reckless kids. Percy is in that house, surprising, I know. Ravenclaw are all the smart ones. That was my mom and dad's house. Hufflepuff are all the caring kids. And finally, Slytherin. Everyone says that's the bad house."

"Why?"

"Because they have a tendency of turning out dark witches and wizards."

"Oh," he said nervously.

"You shouldn't worry though. My grandma is a Slytherin and she's probably the best person I know."

"Ok. So what house do you think you'll be in then?" he asked.

"I'm not sure" she replied, thoughtfully, "my gran keeps saying that I'll probably be in Ravenclaw cause of my parents, but I don't think that's how it works. Are you sure no one in your family has magical powers?"

"I don't actually know," he said honestly. "My parents died when I was five."

She looked up at, ceasing to pet Nimbus. She studied him for a moment. "Me too," she finally said quietly.

"Sorry to hear that," he muttered.

They were both saved the awkwardness of the conversation when another boy came in.

"Oh! I'm sorry. It was unlocked and I thought it might be free."

Before anyone could answer, Nimbus had leapt up in a swift movement and attached herself to the new boy's shirt. He screamed in pain as Charles and Rose rushed to him.

"Nimbus, no!" called Charles managing to grab the cat, who began to hiss loudly. Having grabbed him, Charles finally managed to stuff his cat back into the cage.

"I am so sorry. He doesn't like people and surprises don't help."

"No, it's ok. You're the one bleeding."

Charles looked at his left arm and saw the small scratches that had been left from the incident.

"That was pretty exciting" Rose said, "are you looking for a place to sit?"

"I am" the new kid said bashfully.

"Well, sit down. I'm Rose and this is Charles."

"You really like introducing people, huh," Charles muttered mostly to himself.

"Did you say something," asked Rose turning to him.

"Nothing!" he turned to the new boy, "nice to meet you."

"Great to meet you guys too."

They all stood silently for a moment, Rose and Charles waiting for him to introduce himself.

"Oh right! Sorry, I'm Marvin Long."

"Well it's good to meet you. Sit down" Rose invited him to sit next to him, causing Marvin to blush deeply. "Charles and I were just talking about the houses."

And so the next few hours were spent talking between the three. Marvin, like Rose came from a wizarding family. The spent a good hour telling Charles what they knew about Hogwarts. They were only interrupted by Percy coming in to check and see if Rose was doing alright. He stayed for a few minutes, looking annoyingly superior in Charles' opinion, before excusing himself yet again. An hour after that, the trolley came in they all ate the sweats to their heart's content. The two more knowledgeable kids explained all the different kinds of candies to Charles, who cautiously ate his Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans.

As the night fell upon them and the train began to slow down the three changed into their robes and managed to get their trunks down. Once the train arrive they all made their way off, following the rest of the students. Most were going towards large carriages.

"Wow!" Marvin gawked in amazement at the carriages, "They're moving by themselves."

Charles was startled by this comment. When he looked at the carriages he saw what looked like large bony horses with wings. He shot a quick glance at Marvin and was about to say something, but instead he caught sight of Rose's face. She seemed to be looking at the horses too. However, before Charles could ask what she saw they heard a large voice.

"First years! First years, follow me!"

Hagrid's booming voice kept calling for them and the trio made their way to the large man. When they arrived most of the other first years where already there. Small droplets of water began to hit them while Hagrid explained to them that he would be guiding them across the lake. He told them to get into the boats. By the time they had started rowing, the rain had picked up and everyone was as wet as if they had jumped into the lake. As they made their finally turn, the lights of a large castle came into view. Charles stared in awe, like everyone else. He suddenly felt a sense that he had never felt before, a sense of belonging. He had no idea why, but he felt as if things where finally right. That sense only grew as he entered the castle. He watched happily, unlike the other students who shuddered with cold wetness, as Hagrid led them into a large, empty room, which was soon filled with ghosts who introduced themselves as they flew around happily before leaving. The nervousness only began to sink in when an old witch entered the room. She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall.

"In a few moments you will enter the great hall, but before you sit down to eat, you will be sorted into your house. Are you all ready? Follow me."

She led them through a few hallways and up to large double doors. The doors swung open of their own accordance and the first years entered the main hall.

-8-

Rose had heard things from the Weasleys about Hogwarts, but it was nothing compared to what she saw. It was beyond grand. She didn't even care that she was wet anymore. She looked at the ceiling, which depicted large clouds rumbling together. She was too distracted to pay much attention to what was happening. She saw an old hat being placed in front of what she assumed to be the professors table. She vaguely heard someone sing some song, she was far too distracted, individually analyzing each of the teachers. It wasn't until she heard her name being called that she snapped out of her daze.

"Barne, Rose" she heard her name once more, accompanied by giggles. She realized that she had to go up and made her way through all the first years. Once she had made it to the front the stern looking witch, McGonagall, look pointedly at the stool. Rose sat on it and she felt a hat being placed on her head.

"Starting off easy, eh?"

She was surprised to hear the small voice in heard head.

"Sorry?" But before she could say anything else the voice she heard in her head shouted out loud.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Cheers erupted from the red table. She took the hat off and ran towards the cheering group.

The sorting of the rest of the first years took another half hour. In that time she had been joined by Marvin, the nervous boy she had met on the train, and a few others at her new house table. She watched as the second to last name was called.

"Wolf, Charles."

There was a silence that settled once he had been called. Even the teachers looked at each other nervously. Charles however did not seem to notice and if he did he hid it well. He walked with determination to the stool. Rose studied him as she had done on the train. He was taller than most of the other boys, although not by much. His dark, black hair matched the colour of his thick glasses horn-rimmed glasses. Though she could not see them at the moment, she remembered the stormy grey eyes behind the lenses. She watched as the the sorting hat that for a moment and then…

"SLYTHERIN!"

 **AN: Total honesty here, I am not super confident about this story. I have a lot of the later chapters mapped out, but right now it's all a bit muddy. I'm also nervous because I love Harry Potter and I don't want to change anything in it, but for my story to work, there might be some different plot elements. Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed it, I have a couple of more chapters ready that I might post. Let me know what you think.**


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